What does this detail tell us about the background of Mr Wilcox Senior? What other details support this?

I. What’s the significance of the following in the chapter?

- curlers

- Freud

- Cans of lager

- Central heating

- AA Guide to Hotels and Restaurants

- Keyring

- £ 250

II. Read the information about some realia from the text and answer the questions:

a) Arts Laboratory: most large towns used to have at least two cinemas: one “mainstream” showing the latest Hollywood movies and one “arts cinema” which would show smaller-budget, less popular films. Often these would be foreign films with subtitles, rarely shown on British TV.

Robyn and Charles go to Arts Laboratory. What does it tell us about their tastes? Which type of cinema would you prefer to go to? Why?

b) “Dynasty” look: “Dynasty” was an American soap opera which was hugely popular in the 1980s. The characters’ costumes were very distinctive; the women had glamorous hairstyels, wore heavy makeup and suits with large shoulder pads.

Marjorie is trying to copy the style of a soap-opera characters. What does it tell us about her and what she is trying to achieve? Does she succeed? Why/why not?

c) Furniture, mostly bought from the Co-op: “Co-op” is short for “Co-operative”, a chain of shops which was set to enable workers to buy goods at reasonable prices. The goods were usually of reasonable quality but not designed to last for a long time.

Mr Wilcox Senior has this kind of furniture in his house. What does it tell us about him and his outlook?

d) “Sunday lunch, or dinner as Vic called it in deference to his father ”: for the meal eaten during the day “dinner” is more likely to be used by members of the working class, while “lunch” is preferred by members of the middle class. “Dinner” is also commonly used both in Scotland and Yorkshire, often irrespective of the class background of the speaker.

What does this detail tell us about the background of Mr Wilcox Senior? What other details support this?

II. Compare Vic’s weekend with that of Robyn:

- meals

- entertainment

- people they meet

Whose weekend is more interesting, to your mind? Why?

III. Find the context for these words/phrases. Explain their meaning:

- cronies

- bonhomie

- stuck-up

- barmy

- libber

- hanky-panky

- lasciviously

- derisive

- docile

- roly-poly

- get a kick out of smth

Write an essay on one of the following topics (not less than 250-300 words):

1. Debbie and Basil represent one more aspect of “nice work” in the novel. What is their idea of “nice work”, do you think? What values do they represent? (compare with that of Robyn and Vic)
2. Compare Vic’s and Robyn’s weekends. What does the way they spend the weekend tell us about their personalities and lifestyle?
3. Explore the image of Vic’s Dad: his appearance and his house, his character and views. How did Mr Wilcox Senior influence Vic’s personality, do you think?

Chapter IV. Who felt or behaved this way? Why?

• Feeling that he/she had somehow been compromised or made to look foolish
• Was startled
• Giggling irresponsibility
• Became relaxed, almost expansive
• looked disappointed
• talking earnestly and confidentially
• looked impressed
• avoided like plague
• said with a slightly bitchy intonation
• found it fun to use
• seemed shifty
• grinning and blinking
• lifted an eyebrown and blinked
• embarrassed
• huffing and puffing
• wasn’t ashamed
• hesitated
• looked in a calculating kind of way

Task A. Read the first passage (Ch.IV, part 2) describing Rummidge in winter and write down words/phrases describing the following:

What feelings does this description seek to evoke? What is opposed to this image of Rummidge? How is this opposition expressed in the text (find appropriate quotes)?

Task B. Comment on the following statements from the text. What do they mean?

1. Only work seemed to provide an answer.
2. Life was short, criticism long.
3. She led a double life these days.
4. Robyn felt like a secret agent.

Task C. Answer the questions:

1. What is West Wallsbury compared to? (find appropriate quotes)
2. How different is the description of West Wallsbury from the opening description of Rummidge? What features of West Wallsbury are stressed?
3. There is a number of associations in the text linked to the word “shadow”. Complete the following diagram (you can also refer to the earlier parts of the text):

What is the associative (and symbolical) connection between West Wallsbury and the University? Which of the two worlds does Robyn belong to?

How did the meaning of the word “shadow” transform as the narration progressed?

3. In groups draw a map of Rummidge as it is depicted in David Lodge’s novel marking all the important locations mentioned in the text (University, Pringle’s, West Wallsbury, Ebury Street, Robyn’s house, etc). Be creative and introduce your own symbols and comments. Mark the connections (physical or spiritual or associative) between the locations (e.g. between the University and Robyn’s house). Present your maps to the group.

Chapter IV (2). Continue:

1. Robyn’s routines during the winter term....
2. Although Robyn often complained about her shadowing duties,...
3. Spending time at Pringle’s changed the way Robyn...
4. Charles told Robyn that....

Comment on the following statements from the text:

1. Only work seemed to provide an answer.
2. Life was short, criticism long.
3. She led a double life these days.
4. There are millions of people out there who haven’t the slightest interest in what we do.
5. I find myself falling back on arguments that I don’t really believe any more.
6. But who pays?

Explain the meaning of the following words finding the appropriate sentences:

- clammy

- despondent

- bask

- fogy

- devil’s advocate

Chapter IV (1). Study the epigraph to Chapter IV. What does it tell us about what is going to happen in the chapter? What parallels does it draw?

Task A. Continue:

1. Robyn decided to return to Pringle’s because.........
2. Vic wanted to visit Foundrax because............
3. When Vic asked Norman Cole about the problem with Rawlinson,..................
4. During their lunch Robyn and Vic talked about........

Task B. Comment on the following sentences from the text:

1. They might send me somebody even worse.
2. Get home all right last week, did you?
3. He did seem a bit shifty.
4. It was the kind of establishment that Robyn would normally have avoided like the plague.
5. Late capitalism.
6. Like the cycle of the seasons

Task C. Choose one of the questions from the list and discuss it in small groups. Prepare to share your ideas with other groups supplying them with relevant examples and details.

1. Why didn’t Vic lodge a formal complaint about Robyn’s behaviour and accept her back?

2. Although Norman Cole works in the same sphere and in the same position as Wilcox, he’s quite different from the latter. In what way?

3. There’s a description of Wilcox’s car in the chapter. It is given through Robyn’s eyes. What does it tell us? Which features are stressed and what is Robyn’s reaction to them? Compare it with the description of the Jaguar from Chapter I.

4. Wilcox tells Robyn that he’d rather run his own small business. What does it reveal about him?

Task D. What do the following phrases mean? Find and translate the appropriate sentences from the text:

- have the nerve

- prudence

- Quixotic

- U-turn

- Bland

- Abstemious

- Smirk

- Bite one’s head off